American Blue-cheese Dressing

I love American salad dressings, and especially this one.

The blue cheese can be Roquefort, if you want to splash out, or Gorgonzola, which crumbles particularly well. The only stipulation is that the cheese has to be gutsy; a subtle, faint-hearted one will get lost among all the other strong flavours.

Method

Start off by crushing the garlic clove (or cloves), together with the salt, to a creamy mass in a pestle and mortar, then add the mustard and work that in.

Next add the lemon juice, vinegar and, after that, the oil. Mix everything together thoroughly, then, in a bowl, combine the soured cream and mayonnaise and gradually whisk into the dressing ingredients.

When all is thoroughly blended, add the chopped spring onions and the crumbled blue cheese and season with freshly milled pepper.

The dressing is now ready to use, and I think a few crunchy croutons are a nice addition here.

To make these, toss ¼ inch (5 mm) cubes of bread – approximately 4 oz (110 g) in all – in a bowl with a dessertspoon of olive oil, spread them out on a baking sheet and bake in an oven pre-heated to gas mark 5, 375°F (190°C) for 10 minutes.